First Sentence

Founder, organizer, and the first president of M.I.T.; first professor of physics and geology; internationally known geologist renowned for his work in the Virginias; scientist, scholar, lecturer, and innovative educational philosopher; William Barton Rogers was preeminent as an applied scientist for half his lifetime, and since his death almost a century ago he has become a legend and the subject of many biographies, memorials, commentaries and such.